Son of 'Hour of Power' founder starts own TV show

SANTA ANA, Calif. - SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - The son of famed "The Hour of Power" televangelist Robert H. Schuller Sr. said Tuesday he will launch his own show on AmericanLife TV after acquiring the network in a partnership with ComStar Media Fund LP.

The announcement by Robert A. Schuller Jr. ended months of speculation about his next move after a highly public split with his charismatic father and founder of the popular weekly televangelist program.

The younger Schuller said in an interview with The Associated Press that his new series will debut on AmericanLife in September and air once a week on TV and the Internet. He said he will appear on the show, along with other actors or characters. He declined to provide more specifics.

"It's going to be like nothing you've ever seen before," he said. "It will be very contemporary and modern and it's not going to be a preaching show. It will be a show that shares the message without preaching the message."

Schuller's father said in a statement released through a spokesman that he wished his son well despite their recent dustup.

"Our combined and most sincere prayer today is that his new ministry will reach persons everywhere, helping to change and enrich their lives through the positive love and redeeming spirit of Jesus Christ," the statement read.

Schuller Jr. will also be chairman of AmericanLife and assume joint oversight of the network with ComStar president and Chief Executive Chris Wyatt, who founded GodTube.com in 2007.

Schuller Jr. and Wyatt said AmericanLife will grow its family values programming through TV, Internet and cell phone audiences and hope to target more than 40 million homes in the next few years.

Wyatt said the network was acquired from the Unification Church, a Korean religious organization. He declined to disclose how much the two paid for the network, but said that AmericanLife was worth $100 million in 2000, when it was half its current size.

The deal includes AmericanLife's nearly 13 million subscribers and a library of more than 700 hours of programming, he said.

"We wouldn't have purchased the cable network just to purchase a cable network," Wyatt said. "We see a lot of opportunities, a void left by a couple of the major channels who used to provide family friendly programming. We see a massive need out there that's not being met right now."

Wyatt said the network's overall programming will not be religious, but Schuller's name recognition from his time on "The Hour of Power" will help build a fan base.

The elder Schuller, who calls his weekly show "America's Television Church," founded his ministry in a drive-in theater after moving to Southern California in 1955. He studied marketing strategies to attract worshippers and preached a feel-good Christianity that ballooned into one of the nation's first megachurches and a broadcast watched by millions worldwide.

The church's main sanctuary, the Crystal Cathedral, is a landmark designed by renowned architect Philip Johnson, with a spire visible from afar amid Orange County's suburban sprawl. It has 10,000 members.

Schuller Sr. passed the torch to his son in 2006 in a ceremony viewed by millions, but last year his son resigned abruptly, citing irreconcilable differences.

On Tuesday, the younger Schuller told AP that part of the tension came because he wanted to take "The Hour of Power" in a new direction that included other media platforms such as cell phones and Internet and his father resisted.

AmericanLife will be based in Dallas, with executive offices in Los Angeles and other locations nationwide.